Arrival in Madrid

I arrived in Madrid today. The first thing I did was check in to my hostel. I arrived at about 4:30pm to the airport with Profe Arenillas and Clara, from there I took a shuttle to Plaza de Cibeles. First mistake. Plaza de Cibeles is really far away from my hostel. Not really far away, but with my bags it seemed to take forever. I am seriously considering trying to return Monday via another route. There is a girl from Austria in my room that says she took the train here; I know that you can also use the Metro. Unfortunately there are like 4 line changes if I want to take the Metro. And honestly I would like to sit for the majority of the trip, since my two backpacks feel like they weigh two tons. I also don’t like concerning myself with connecting lines… Anyway, after a lot of sweat and some achy shoulders, I arrived to my hostel. The key system is super weird here, but I think I will get used to it. One thing I will not get used to is the kitchen! The kitchen seems like it would be big enough, but with all the people down there now, it obviously is not. Also, they don’t have any real dishes. Everything is plastic, and I had to cut a tomato with a plastic fork. Obviously, it did not end as well as I had hoped. I think its extra busy downstairs because they are making paella. Also, the wifi doesn’t work in the rooms, so any hopes I had of watching Netflix tonight are dashed.

One thing that really made my night was going to the Reina Sofia Bellas Artes museum. There was a very wide range in the collection. However, one thing that I took from my experience is that I really really do not know Salvador Dalí’s style! I really thought I had a good handle on it. This is not the case. Dalí has soooo many different styles that if you showed me a Dalí, I would probably have a forty percent chance of guessing it right, unless it was one of his more well-known works. I would also like to note that this experience has enlightened my perception of artistic works. I knew that artists went(/still go through) different stylistic periods. But I thought that there was something in each of their works that was unique to that one artist, which let you know it was theirs (other than their signature). But with all the different styles Dalí had in the Reina Sofia Bellas Artes museum, I realized that his art expanded far past that of the surreal. He also painted political paintings. One was about the civil war (named something like Premonition of the War), and other explicitly has an image of Hitler in it. But then some of his art just seemed like it was for fun (for example there are a few works displaying explicit sexual acts that one might consider funny, or just plain strange). I also learned more about Miró. I really like Miró’s work. It’s crazy how well he too mastered many different genres of work. There are works that look almost like Picasso’s, with the Cubism style. There are some that made me think of impressionism styles, and then there were really modernistic pieces. I also learned that I really wished I knew more about art!! I can appreciate it, but I think I would get more out of it if I knew more and if I recognized more pieces.

Of course, the big famous painting in the Reina Sofia is Picasso’s Guernica. Honestly, it struck me how different it was to me in real life. I really had super high expectations for Guernica. I knew it was going to be really big, so no surprise there. However, for some reason from the pictures I’ve seen online, I thought it would be more refined and finished looking. It looked very rough to me. Perhaps this was on purpose; obviously it’s a very rough topic. Another thing that really surprised me is that you can see where he was sketching the outlines for the painting under the paint! You can see where he was going to put the head of the bull, and that he decided to change it and put it to the left a bit more. Also, I’m pretty sure it looked like he was going to put a duck next to the bull, but then decided against it. Accompanying Guernica, the museum had a lot of documents that tell the history of the painting a bit. There are lots of letters from curators of museums that are communicating with Picasso, and other museums, in regards to where the painting should be moved, or not moved. There is even a hand written letter from Pablo Picasso in the display case. I couldn’t really decipher what he had written because I think it’s in French. It might be really bad that I’m saying this, but I actually like the paintings Picasso did in preparation for making Guernica, more than Guernica itself. Accompanying the Guernica exhibit (in addition to the documents) are a room full of paintings Picasso did before he painted Guernica. These ranged from rough sketches, to very detailed drawings and paintings of specific aspects of the painting. For instance, he did a very detailed drawing of the bull, but it had the face of a man. He also did a lot of the woman with the child scene paintings and sketches. Picasso did something very interesting with eyes in Guernica and the preparation pictures. They almost look like sparklers to me, the way that they look like mini explosions or something.

Speaking of sketches, I must mention the extensive exhibit that the Reina Sofia museum has of Goya’s sketches. I did not expect them to be in the Reina Sofia, but perhaps in the Prado, just because of when they were made. But I recognized quite a few of them from Profe Compton’s Spain class. The majority refer to the war. It seemed like a lot of the collections centered themselves around the Civil War, and war in general. There were even exhibits from the seventies that presented opinions on the United States’ participation in the Vietnam War. Also, some that made references to Kennedy’s death.

I also decided that I need to look into Antoni Tápies. He had sooo many works in the Reina Sofia. And of so many different styles! He seems like an incredible painter, with a lot of relevant works. He was all over the Reina Sofia! Anyway, I’ve got to look into him more.

Tomorrow my goal is to do a walking tour, and to go to the Prado. If I can do both of these, I will be happy!